[2] Doni received the degree of doctor from the University of Pisa and was chosen to accompany Neri Corsini (1614-1678) to Paris in 1621 where he became acquainted with Marin Mersenne and other literary persons.

Among other things, he either invented or reconstructed, a double lyre which, in honour of his patron, he called a Lyra Barberina or Amphichord (see barbiton).

Opera had been invented in Florence, and Vincenzo Galilei, the father of Galileo, was a key member of the group which established the new approach to theatre, and also an experimenter with acoustic laws and harmonies.

Doni and J.J. Bouchard, Cardinal Francesco Barberini's long-standing interest in ancient drama culminated in his sponsoring two large projects, one practical and one theoretical: He died only seven years after returning for Florence.

Between 1635 and 1639 he wrote a Treatise on Music for the Theatre (Italian: Trattato della musica scenica) which provides important history details for early opera.

[5] In the eleventh century, the music theorist Guido of Arezzo developed a six-note ascending scale that went as follows: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la.

There is much academic speculation that Giovanni Doni also wanted to imprint himself into musical canon in perpetuity because "Do" is also ulteriorly an abbreviation for his surname.

[7] In Anglophone countries, "Si" was changed to "Ti" by Sarah Glover in the nineteenth century so that every syllable might begin with a different letter.